By Andrew Friedman
Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria said Sunday that there is “no situation” they would be willing to accept a political agreement that Jewish settlements in place under Palestinian Authority sovereignty.
“Are you kidding me,” said Avi Roeh, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, referring to a report in the Haaretz newspaper that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked the Obama administration in 2014 to provide assurances that Israeli settlers would be allowed to remain in their homes under the terms of a future peace agreement.
“The suggestion isn’t even worth responding to. With all due respect to Barak Ravid, I don’t believe the prime minister would ever have made such a suggestion. It’s simply a non-starter,” Roeh told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).
Others residents of Judea and Samaria were equally dismissive. One resident of Psagot noted that “Palestinians themselves don’t even have civil rights under Palestinian rule. What do you expect would happen to Jews?” Others said it was silly to talk about a theoretical arrangement that has zero chance of occurring.
“I am an Israeli citizen, and I will remain one as long as I live,” said Pinchas Wallerstein, the former director of the Yesha Council. “The whole idea is very, very theoretical, but I’m still happy to hear that the prime minister has denied the report out-of-hand.”
Ravid said the option of leaving Jewish settlers under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction would solve a political problem for Netanyahu, for whom demolishing existing settlements would create an political firestorm for coalition partner Jewish Home party, as well as for a significant segment of the Likud Party voter base. He also noted that Netanyahu views the issue as one of principle: Just as the State of Israel has an Arab minority that enjoys full rights of citizenship, so to should Jews be able to enjoy the same minority status in a future state of Palestine.
Netanyahu’s suggestion was not the first time the idea of transferring Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria to Palestinian Authority control has been tabled. The late Menachem Froman, a mystic rabbi who helped found the Gush Emmunim settlement movement before forging close ties with Palestinian Authority Arab political and religious leaders, often said that his connection to the Holy Land transcended the State of Israel and that he would choose to remain in his Tekoa home under Palestinian sovereignty rather than be evicted by Israel. Froman died in 2013.
A source close to the 2014 talks told TPS that the current report was just one of many unauthorized statements reported in Netanyahu’s name. The individual, who spoke to TPS on condition of anonymity because he was not authorize to speak to the media, said “With or without a political agreement, nobody will be removed from their home. This was and remains the prime minister’s principled position.”